#a large percentage of the prison population likely have it

[haggishlyhagging]

In recent years, the female crime wave and its violent women have been alarmingly described in articles and books; but they were first widely publicized in 1975 through a book called Sisters in Crime by Freda Adler, a criminologist who rose to prominence on the strength of a logical fallacy. Noticing that a renewed women's movement paralleled apparently phenomenal increases in crimes by women, Adler mistakenly concluded that one trend caused the other. The rapid rise in crimes by women, she said, was merely the "shady aspect of liberation"; and as more and more "libbers" rushed to emulate the criminal example of men—the only "full human beings"—we would be awash in a sea of emancipated crime.

While some prisons planned new facilities for the expected influx of violent women, feminists in criminology and the criminal-justice system were quick to respond to Adler with convincing arguments. They maintained, and rightly, that Adler's figures were misleading precisely because women commit so few crimes. When the number of crimes is small, only a few more may account for a large percentage increase; but Adler cited those alarming percentage increases without recording the low absolute numbers. She pointed to a shocking rise of 277 percent in arrests of women for robbery between 1960 and 1972; but the 1973 Uniform Crime Reports of the FBI reported only 5,700 women arrested for robbery that year, compared with almost 95,000 men. Across the board women were arrested in 1973 for about 15.3 percent of all crimes committed—not a high rate, and certainly not an alarming one, for a group that makes up more than half the population. Adler's critics also noted that there has been no demonstrable increase in crimes of violence committed by women. The greatest increases in women's crimes have been in larceny and fraud, particularly welfare fraud; and these are not violent crimes but economic ones, easily attributable to the growing financial needs of poor women, most of whom have children to support. Other critics pointed to evidence that spreading drug addiction has increased economic crimes for women and men alike. In any case, the so-called new woman criminal was likely to be like the old woman criminal—young, poor, and black or Hispanic.

Adler was quite right that the two phenomena—the women's movement and female criminality—go together, but not as she supposed in terms of cause and effect. It is simply that the presence of one prompts fear of the other. Agitation for women's rights always sparks enormous anxiety, among women and men alike, about the proper place of women in society, and because "take" in one element of society seems to mean "give" in another, about the safety of the whole social order. That anxiety manifests itself in many ways: in the fear that women are "unsexing themselves," which in turn produces campaigns to outlaw bloomers, to elevate a regressive “femininity” to "total womanhood," and to make abortion a criminal offense; in the fear that the family is disintegrating, which results in virulent attacks upon women's colleges, divorce, homosexuality, women in the work force, federally funded day care, and unisex bathrooms; and in the fear that women, released from some traditional restraints, will turn to unbridled evil, mayhem, and murder. Even the traditionally macho skin magazine Oui observed in 1975, “Women criminals today seem to spark a special fear, fantasy and overreaction in male society.”

-Ann Jones, Women Who Kill

[beardedmrbean]

For the sixth time in almost as many months, the country’s prison population has reached an all-time high. And for the first time ever, the number of people behind bars exceeded the 74,000 mark on July 1, according to statistics published by the justice ministry at the end of last month.  

There are now 74,513 people incarcerated in a country with a prison capacity of 60,666. That is 2,446 more than last year and drastically more than at the start of summer 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic led to a drastic fall in the number of inmates.  

Occupancy rates have surged in some areas, reaching a staggering 212 percent in the Perpignan prison in the south of France, for example. Now that a new wave of sentences has been handed out following a week of riots in response to the fatal shooting of Nahel M. at the hands of police on June 27, those percentages are set to balloon. 

Tougher justice system means more inmates

Overcrowding in prisons is a recurring debate, both in France and in Europe at large. The European Court of Human Rights has repeatedly criticised France for its “structural problem” regarding occupancy, underlining the “degrading conditions” that come with over-packing jails. 

Some French politicians have justified the record-breaking numbers by saying the overcrowding is proof that the French justice system is simply rigorous. In other words, it’s proof that things are working. But Dominique Simonnot, who heads an independent public watchdog group that monitors incarceration in France, says nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, it may be part of the problem. 

According to Simonnot as well as the International Prison Observatory, among the factors leading to prison overpopulation is the steady increase in immediate hearings, a fast-track procedure that allows a prosecutor to bring a person to trial soon after being taken into custody. More of these immediate hearings mean more people can be sentenced in a shorter amount of time, funneling people into prison at a faster rate. Simmonot says that, 90 percent of the time, the outcome of these fast-track hearings is detention, whether pre-trial or to serve out a sentence.

“The defendant is sent straight into prison or detained on remand,” says Simonnot. “So more immediate hearings mean more incarcerated people.”  

Then there are the political factors. Justice Minister Éric Dupond-Moretti, reacting to accusations the French justice system is not strict enough, has consistently called for a “firm” and “rapid” response to crime. As a result, penalties are becoming tougher and sentences are being extended. Penalties for squatting were tripled on July 27, for example, and now squatters risk up to three years in prison and a €45,000 fine whereas before they only faced one year in prison and a €15,000 fine.  

“People are spending more time in prison, and fewer people are being released,” says Simonnot.  

The issue seems to have reached a deadlock in France politically, despite demands from prison authorities across the country to bring down the soaring population. “There is a fixation on corporal punishment,” says Simonnot, saying some of the challenges are rooted in the culture that surrounds the French justice system. “[The debate] quickly turns into the good guys versus the bad guys; people are quick to think that I am on the side of thugs,” she sighs. 

Moreover, she points out, the way people are treated while incarcerated can have a significant effect on recidivism.

“[It feels like] nobody really cares, which is a huge mistake, because the way people are kept behind bars and how they spend their time will inevitably affect how they behave once they’re out.”  

‘Everyone is on edge’ 

The consequences of prison overcrowding are difficult for inmates across the board. Even female prisoners, who only represent 3.3 percent of France’s prison population, are living in overcrowded, under-equipped spaces.  

“It’s a disgrace,” says Simonnot, who has seen incarcerated women using overturned cupboards as bedframes.

These living conditions can no longer be considered humane due to the lack of space, says Simonnot. “Three inmates can be piled in a cell, and then all that is left for them to move around in is four metres squared, not counting the other amenities in their cell like the bed or toilet,” says Simonnot. “That’s around one metre squared per person to live in, and they spend 20 to 21 hours a day confined to that space.” 

Packed prisons have forced 2,478 inmates to sleep on mattresses on the ground, according to justice ministry figures released at the same time as the study of prison populations. Besides the constraints this puts on cell space, it’s a health hazard. At the Toulouse-Seysses prison in southwest France, Simonnot recounts seeing prisoners put toilet paper in their noses and ears “so cockroaches don’t crawl in while they sleep”.  

Unsanitary conditions from overcrowding in general can increase the risk of vermin and the spread of disease, posing serious health risks to the entire prison population. At a prison in Perpignan, Simonnot was told by supervisors to remove all her clothing before stepping into her house and to place her belongings in a freezer for 72 hours to kill off bedbugs and fleas.

“Whenever I visit a new facility, I think I’ve seen what rock bottom looks like,” she laments. “But it gets worse every time.”

The dire conditions and overcrowding have also had a knock-on effect on supervisors, who repeatedly express a sense of desperation. Hired to oversee around 50 inmates, they end up looking after “120 or even 150” in some pre-trial detention facilities, Simonnot explains. This inevitably leads to rising tensions and fosters a culture of violence. “To be a supervisor in a remand prison today you have to be Batman,” she says.   

“Everyone is on edge, they’re at their wits’ end.” 

And the 74,513 people incarcerated in France’s facilities doesn’t come without a cost to the state. An average day of detention costs €105. “That’s the price of a nice hotel room,” Simonnot says, before adding that “no hotel would host a guest in these conditions”.  

‘Fewer people behind bars’ 

For President Emmanuel Macron’s government, the best way to combat overcrowding in prisons is simply to build more. On July 18, a bill introduced by Justice Minister Dupond-Moretti to increase prisoner capacity with 15,000 new place was passed. But not all members of the French parliament believe this to be the best solution. And neither does the International Prison Observatory, which condemned the bill in a press release entitled, “The more we construct, the more people we lock up.” 

“It’s an announcement, that’s all,” says Simonnot, who is skeptical of the bill. “It’s a promise that has been made in the past and I don’t think it will be acted upon,” she says, drawing inspiration from a damning report published by Les Républicains MP Patrick Hetzel on May 25. The report outlined the government’s recurrent inaction on the construction of new cells to increase capacity, accusing them of “inexorable procrastination”.  

But there does seem to be consensus on one potential solution. On July 19, a report published by the lower-house National Assembly highlighted the “urgent need” to introduce a regulatory mechanism enshrined in French law that could relieve the country’s overflowing prison population. It’s an idea both Simonnot and the prison observatory have encouraged.  

The measure would first establish a critical threshold for a facility’s maximum capacity, beyond which the prison would no longer be allowed to longer function. That threshold “shouldn’t reach numbers we see today”, Simonnot says, and would be agreed upon collaboratively “by prison directors, judges, reinsertion services, jurisdictions, etc.”.

Prisons would be encouraged to release inmates reaching the end of their sentence in a “supervised, monitored and controlled” manner. And lastly, the inflow of incarcerated people would be curbed by decreasing the number of immediate hearings. 

“I think we just need to put fewer people behind bars,” Simonnot says. She is an advocate for sentences that avoid incarceration, like in Germany or the Netherlands, where detention is used less frequently and for shorter periods of time. Both countries rely heavily on fines or other community-based sentences, maintain a focus on rehabilitation and re-socialisation, and make life in prison as similar as possible to life in the community.

“Prisoners learn how to live again. It’s a gateway to freedom,” she says.  

Though alternative solutions exist, France is not looking to them for the foreseeable future. Following the riots that erupted after the police killing of young Nahel, a total of 1,278 sentences were handed out and 95 percent of those sentenced were convicted, according to numbers offered by Dupond-Moretti in a recent interview with French radio RTL.  

The prison observatory has also warned that the run-up to the 2024 Paris Olympics could worsen overcrowding. Authorities have set themselves a “zero crime” target for all areas hosting the Games, with a focus on street crime like illegal occupation of public spaces, street vending and minor drug-dealing offences. 

“It’s going to get worse,” Simonnot predicts. “That is what is so appalling.”  

[the-firebird69]

With regards to the numbers of people evacuating Florida it is going to be fairly hefty but the Mac morlocks are back to about 15% or less and they are evacuating three to four percent today roughly and it will increase towards the end of the day as they cannot stand it anymore. The minority morlocks came in and have decided to leave about 10 to 20% of them that's how he came in and that's out of Florida's population no that's out of their percentage that came in I think by the end of the day it'll be 50% which is all the ones that came in plus about 10%? They cannot stand it here anymore also with this evacuation please note that this place is getting thin of morelock and the morlock know it. It's getting very thin as a matter of fact and there's not going to be many of them here by the end of the night tomorrow morning we suspect possibly 8% and maybe less maybe more but it's going to be around there it's very low and the minority morlock will begin evacuate tomorrow more so and these people will try to leave with them it might increase leaving only around 5% or 4% by the end of the day

-attrition rate is now at 0.7% that's correct almost a percent and that's what it is this hour of the warlock that's very high. However large some of that is investigation into Giants and the Giants are wasting no time at completely erasing them there's a few other things and it's kju too

-we have a moment to say it's very difficult doing what he's doing and we commend him for it and he thanks for you please do it as much as you can as much as he can. Good we have another assignment additional coming up later it's not a huge one and it has to do with Port Charlotte

-there's another group of people that really need out is this canceled organization only people prisoner and nary admitting it. They're very brazen and outspoken and rude today. Dressed up like women gross so we are going to stop them

We're going to publish because the above is huge

Thor Freya

Olympus

[oh-okay-kay]

papers / claims by terfs to look out for

from my experience, they bring up the same 'evidence' and papers constantly, and it is always faulty.

"autogynephilia"

ray blanchard coined the term autogynephilia. he once worked with WPATH, the worlds largest health org for transgender folks. his findings were rejected by the WPATH due to its lack of empirical evidence. he has also written for 4thwavenow, a known anti-trans cite, supporting the idea of 'rapid onset gender dysphoria'. still, terfs often send papers by him or, the biggest proponent of his views, anne a lawrence. none of the terms or claims they make have been accepted by major health orgs

"40%-60% of trans women in prison are in so for SA"

this was a claim made by another anti-trans group 'fair play for women' based on a report by the uk's ministry of justice. naturally, what they dont reveal are the real numbers. in reality, in 2017, the amount of trans folks from uk and wales in prison with *long* sentences was around 125. the numbers do not account for those who did not reveal they were transgender, or those who had shorter sentences. 125, out of the hundreds of thousands of trans folks that exist in just those countries. out of that 125, 60 trans folks were incarcerated for SA, and their genders themselves were not revealed. 125, out of the over 80,000 total inmate population for the uk in 2017. in short, this is a percentage used only to fear monger, and does not prove in any way any correlation between being trans and committing SA

"gender affirming surgery is experimental and dangerous"

the regret rate for GA surgery is less than 1%. compare this to the average regret rate across all surgeries is around 14%. GA surgery is life saving, and *works*

"according to statistics, men commit more crimes and are therefore more dangerous"

this is just, simply, a claim that has been used against folks since the dawn of time to justify hating an entire group. do not listen to anyone, not just terfs, who makes the format claim of "( ) are most likely to do ( ), which is why we should be separated / they should be punished"

"gender isnt real. only sex is"

well, it is complicated. in physiology, its been found there are as many observable gender forms in humans as the number of humans itself. gender *does exist* to a certain extent, but the lines we draw defining which gender means/does what is constructed by society. however, terfs believe that gender is fake, that only sex is real, aka that we are either large or small gamete producer. they do not take into account that we *do not have xray vision*, and therefore do not distinguish ourselves by our sex, but by our behaviours and expressions and interactions, our genders

if i think of anything more, ill try to add. these are just some of the things i have seen a *lot* of terfs say

It is deeply, deeply beneficial to TERFs if the only characteristic of TERF ideology you will recognize as wrong, harmful, or problematic is "they hate trans women".

TERF ideology is an expansive network of extremely toxic ideas, and the more of them we accept and normalize, the easier it becomes for them to fly under the radar and recruit new TERFs. The closer they get to turning the tide against all trans people, trans women included.

Case in point: In 2014-2015, I fell headlong into radical feminism. I did not know it was called radical feminism at the time, but I also didn't know what was wrong with radical feminism in the first place. I didn't see a problem with it.

I was a year deep into this shit when people I had been following, listening to, and looking up to finally said they didn't think trans women were women. It was only then that I unfollowed those people, specifically; but I continued to follow other TERFs-who-didn't-say-they-were-TERFs. I continued ingesting and spreading their ideas- for years after.

If TERFs "only target trans women" and "only want trans women gone", if that's the one and only problem with their ideology and if that's the only way we'll define them, we will inevitably miss a vast majority of the quiet beliefs that support their much louder hatred of trans women.

As another example: the trans community stood relatively united when TERFs and conservatives targeted our right to use the correct restroom, citing the "dangers" of trans women sharing space with cis women. But when they began targeting Lost Little Girls and Confused Lesbians and trotting detransitioners out to raise a panic about trans men, virtually the only people speaking up about it were other transmascs. Now we see a rash of anti-trans healthcare bills being passed in the US, and they're hurting every single one of us.

When you refuse to call a TERF a TERF just because they didn't specifically say they hate trans women, when you refuse to think critically about a TERF belief just because it's not directly related to trans women, you are actively helping TERFs spread their influence and build credibility.

[prelawland]

Restore the Vote Act Law to the Minnesota Supreme Court

By Emma Mehl, Student at University of Northwestern - St. Paul

January 20, 2024

In the state of Minnesota, the percentage of the population able to vote has greatly increased in the past year. This is not due to a large number of citizens registering to vote, but due to the Restore the Vote initiative which was signed by Governor Tim Walz in March of 2023. This initiative will allow those who have felony convictions to vote in the elections they are not incarcerated for.[1]The previous standard involved required probation after incarceration before the ability to vote was restored. The number of those who have their voting rights restored as a result of this bill are over 50,000.[2]

House File 28 passed in the House, Senate, and was signed by Governor Tim Walz last March. However, it has faced backlash from the Minnesota Voters Alliance. The Alliance brought their concerns to Anoka County District Judge Thomas Lehmann through a lawsuit filed last June.[3] Minnesota Voters Alliance President Andy Cilek argues that those who have not completed their sentence fully have not earned back the right to vote.[4] This argument is due to the wording of the bill that allows those who are not currently incarcerated to vote. The Alliance believes that those on work release, probation, or supervised release have not fully completed their sentence and by the Minnesota Constitution are not able to participate in the electoral process. Those in favor of the bill believe that it will provide a restoration of rights to over 50,000 Minnesotans, many of whom are people of color.

In December, Judge Thomas Lehmann dismissed the lawsuit filed by the Minnesota Voters Alliance. The reason Lehmann states, is that the argument of the lawsuit is fundamentally flawed. Quoted from Article VII, section 1 of the Minnesota Constitution, Lehmann wrote that the framers used intentional writing by stating “restored to civil rights”.[5] In his interpretation, Lehmann believes that it does not say “restored to all civil rights” intentionally. Therefore, by this logic, the legislature is following the correct constitutional process to restore voting rights.

After Judge Thomas Lehmann’s dismissal of the lawsuit, the Minnesota supreme court has decided to hear the challenge to the law. The Minnesota Voters Alliance filed a petition for an accelerated review, which the Supreme Court accepted. This accelerated review allows the case to be heard by the Supreme Court instead of waiting for the Minnesota Court of Appeals due to the timeliness of this decision in an election year. Oral arguments are set to begin on April 1.

Minnesota is not the only state looking to restore voting rights to people convicted of a felony. States such as Maine, Vermont, and the District of Columbia allow those currently incarcerated to vote, whereas states like Nevada and Colorado allow citizens to vote after their release from prison.[6] As states continue to discuss this important issue, voter rights as stated in the Constitution will have to be examined to ensure that each citizen is granted their rights.

______________________________________________________________

[1]https://www.revisor.mn.gov/bills/text.php?number=HF28&type=ue&version=1&session=ls93&session_year=2023&session_number=0

[2] https://www.kare11.com/article/news/politics/minnesota-senate-approves-restoring-voting-rights-for-felons/89-bb28ea5f-05db-4dd3-a22a-858eac81f144

[3] https://kstp.com/kstp-news/top-news/group-files-lawsuit-seeking-to-reverse-minnesota-law-that-restores-voting-rights-to-some-felons/

[4] KSTP

[5] https://kstp.com/kstp-news/local-news/judge-dismisses-challenge-to-minnesota-law-that-allows-some-felons-to-vote/

[6] https://www.findlaw.com/voting/my-voting-guide/felon-voting-laws-by-state.html

[luulapants]

things you should know about books and incarceration

I recently started working with a program that sends books to incarcerated people upon request. There are programs like this in many places throughout the US, under names like “Prison Books Project” or “Books to Prisoners.” Here’s some things you should know:

The most requested book, by far, is the English dictionary. The Spanish dictionary is also highly requested, as are GED prep materials, thesauruses, almanacs, and other reference books. If you have anything like that laying around unused, please consider donating.

Prisons are legally required to maintain libraries of legal resources (this falls under one’s right to counsel), but otherwise generally do not fund or maintain libraries, even for basic educational materials. The law libraries are also often filled with irrelevant law texts (e.g. real estate and civil procedures) instead of what prisoners actually need information about: appeals, civil rights, etc.

There are strict requirements on what books can and cannot be received, which vary from prison to prison and even depending on which staff member is processing the shipments. There are a thousand different reasons prison staff can pull a book from a shipment. Individuals, unfamiliar with the complex restrictions, are often unsuccessful at sending books to incarcerated loved ones.

Prison staff often don’t like prison book programs, despite the fact that they reduce recidivism and keep prisoners occupied and out of trouble. Why? Because it makes more work for them in the mail room. Yes, really.

Immigrants are the fastest growing prison population, so we get lots of requests for books in Spanish or English learning materials. Unfortunately, these are less frequently donated, so our selection is slim.

We also get requests for books about sign language, usually from people with Deaf cellmates who have no other way to communicate.

Books about starting businesses, trades, and reintroduction are extremely common from those planning their lives after release. It’s extremely difficult for convicted felons to find work after release.

We also get many requests about psychology or self-help books. A large percentage of our incarcerated population suffer from some mental illness or have loved ones who do.

Many prisoners were not properly supported in their education. We receive letters from low-literacy people who have severe learning disabilities, whose letters are difficult to read because they never learned to write properly. Comic books/manga are common requests from low-literacy people because they can look at the pictures.

Prison book programs are usually not well funded and must ration how often incarcerated people can write us and how often they can request certain types of high-demand books. Volunteers frequently find there are no suitable books to fill a request and buy books with their own money to make sure someone gets what they’ve asked for. Cash donations to prison book programs will go to buying high-demand books such as dictionaries, GED prep, and other basic education texts.

See if you have a program like this in your area, and consider volunteering or donating books or money. There are over 2 million people incarcerated in the US, and giving them access to books is the very least we can do.

[daniel-oneiroi]

i would like rehabilitation to not be in prisons. there are many ways to rehabilitate people that have nothing to do with MRE-like "meals" that I've seen people go to a hospital over. intestinal blockages from orient jail are not uncommon, and they are dangerous.

prison is not a deterrent. full-stop. they are a for-profit system in america. you WILL be put in prison, and if you haven't yet, good for you. when we don't have a law to break, we literally just MAKE them. my city made standing or sitting on one part of a public sidewalk for more than 10 minutes a jail-worthy crime. i am not kidding.

it only makes sense that the most dangerous habitual offenders, such as serial rapists and child predators, be kept in prisons. these are not people who can be rehabilitated, and if/when the small percentage of them can, they cannot be around other people going through regular rehab. they are a threat to those people. they are an immediate danger to other prisoners and to the general public- anyone they can access.

sure, try to rehab the pedophile or rapist.

but do it where they have 0 ability to access anyone's kid. not just "we have an ankle bracelet and told them to stay away from schools." don't let them have access to other prisoners. rape is about power, not sex. really fucked up people do not care where the power comes from.

*certain people* should 100% be in prison. the vast majority should not.

but i live in a country with one of the largest prison populations in the world, largely dominated by for-profit industries at every level.

We ask your questions so you don’t have to! Submit your questions to have them posted anonymously as polls.

[monstrouslyobsessed]

—beastfolk’s masterlist

❝we are but servants to the beasts’  whims.❞

art credit is not found | full image

what if the world as we know it was different? imagine the world where we the humans are pets to the animalistic humanoid species...the beastfolk.

what is beastfolk?

the beastfolk is a species spanning all that sported similar humanoid figures as we do—but with all the traits of animals.

alongside the humankind, the most common groups of the beastfolk are:

—fangedfolk, which consists of canines (dogs, wolves, foxes, etc) —whiskeredfolk, which contain the felines (tigers, lions, tomcats, etc) —clawedfolk, including bears, bear-like animals such as honey badger and koala bears (raccoons, weasels, and other similar animals fall under this category) —wingedfolk, typically birds that feed on meats and other animals with wings (birds of prey, large parrots with bone breaking beaks, bats, etc.) —featheredfolk, any bird that is considered as ‘harmless’ in nature (small-beaked parrots, sparrows, finches, etc.) —hoovedfolk, any animal with hooves (horses, pigs, bulls, etc.) —scaledfolk, any reptiles and amphibian (snakes, lizards, alligators, frogs, etc.) —toothedfolk, including rodents and lagomorphs (rats, rabbits, squirrels, etc. any animal with similar teeth) —treefolk, including all primates (gorillas, lemurs, monkeys, etc.) —and lastly, seafolk, comprising any aquatic animals and those with fins (sharks, dolphins, eels, octopuses, etc.)—is considered most dangerous and lesser understood.

understandably, this is a vast oversimplification from our reality.

when you have so many groups of beastfolk, even they would have preferred having common categories, particularly from having similar diets, lifestyles, common interests, cultures, to name few reasons. although politics too plays a part.

...supposed us living with the beastfolk is our reality, just how different things would be with them stronger than us—and having abilities to form relationships together? when they’re so, so dangerous to our well-being?

*name is still pending as some primates do not climb trees.

things to note;

starting from july 7, 2020, i will start marking my pieces (be it headcanon, full piece, musings, etc.) as what appx. era they takes place in. this is the simplified version of the timeline.

—pre-zoo, before the beastfolks were captive inside zoo institutes (literally concentration camps for them), severe segregation between the beastfolks and humans to the point that a high percentage of the population of each had never seen one other. you can think of this as...pre1900s to back to the known documented beginning thousands of years before. technology was not commonplace then but the ‘underground rings’ of various illegal activities were super common. —zoo, the era where the humans were actively capturing the beastfolks and placing them in the zoos. humans and beastfolks are finally gaining public awareness of one other. interspecies violence was becoming more common and romeo and juliet tales were not unheard of. technology started to grow. the prototype of the internet was created around this time. —zoo breakout, this was when the beastfolks started rising to power, broke out from their prisons, and started attacking and destroying all societies as the world once knew it. wars, countless deaths, and attacks occurred following the breakout. happening in nearly every major country. the beastfolks also started fighting among each other, with one side believing that humankind deserves to be annihilated and another trying to save humanity. this is also the era where violence, political tension, and fear were at their highest. internet expanded in a desperate attempt to connect and communicate with other human survivors. the chaos probably lasted for several decades, the destruction in some countries takes longer to end than others. —post zoo, the era where the beastfolks and humans are finally learning to live in the harmony together— at the cost of humans’ freedom (political freedom included). you can consider this as the modern era, imagine it as the 2000s to current. technology is what we know it currently, from flatscreen televisions, gaming consoles, virtual reality, etc. gaming, live streaming, and especially interspecies sex cultures are super prominent across the internet.

—any era, can be applied to any era regardless. can be on me talking about the beastfolk’s anatomy, culture, etc. for example, what hadn’t changed throughout the entire history and persists through all events that occurred to the modern era.

are you looking for my beastfolk character page...?

stories;;

—lady hyena;;ns;fw | her pretty pet

—lady hyena;;ns;fw | petplay

—jaguar tribe;;violence | ce’ce

—snake coworker / actor;;ns;fw | smile for the camera

—NEW!maned wolf fangedfolk / labyrinth game winner;;ns;fw | pursuit in the labyrinth

headcanons;;

—lady hyena | the zoo —lady hyena | domestic —lady hyena | expecting —lady hyena | again and again

—papa bull;;ns;fw | call me daddy —papa bull and duke;;ns;fw | like father-like son —papa bull and duke;;ns;fw | borrowing from daddy dearest —papa bull | and baby makes 3

—papa bull and duke;;ns;fw | anons headcanons (contains some world lores)

—dorothy the cow;;ns;fw | not so sweet  

—vice president lioness | sweetheart

—police dog;;ns;fw | do the crime do the time

—father fox | a family man —father fox;;ns;fw | waiting no longer —father fox;;ns;fw | first wife + what

—conservative lion | disgusted —NEW!conservative lion;;ns;fw | tyrannical

—mafia bears;;ns;fw | cucciolina pt1 —mafia bears;;ns;fw | cucciolina pt2

—rabbit hybrid;;ns;fw | long ears

—general;;ns;fw | police culture

—snake coworker / actor;;ns;fw | a thousand photographs of you

—musings; general;;ns;fw | entertain your patrons —musings; whiskeredfolks;;ns;fw | anatomy

—crocodile hybrid;;ns;fw | the swamp thing

—snake competitor;;ns;fw | the cruel game

—general;;ns;fw | the brothels

questions;;

—brief history | timeline | adoption | taboos | mental illnesses | others —which species... —body types | pregnancy instincts | internet —religions | jobs | celebrities | divorces | others —human flesh as food | laws | humanfuckers | others

—mental health | cheaters | diets | human as service pets | others

—human population | political leader being hypocrites | conservation views

—legal matters | media representations | why humans suffer so much prejudices | brief history

—languages | hybrid | breeding

—beauty standard | can i fool the beastfolks

—bugfolk? | if papa bull found out about duke | conservative lion is abusive pos

—yandere mbti personality |  most to least likely to be with human

—courting rituals | funny birds | auctions to the spectator sports

— NEW!cheating beastfolk spouse and cheating being taboo

((to be updated later!))

artworks;;

—mine | sketches of different characters i've written before

—mine | lady hyena sketch

—mine;ns;fw | lady hyena

—mine;ns;fw | papa bull

—mine | father fox

—mine;ns;fw | lady hyena and the lioness

—mine | papa bull and duke comparison with bonus dorothy and babies doodles

—mine | papa bull and duke redesigned

—mine | valerius

—mine | labyrinth game’s participants and the hostess

others;;

—ns;fw;;lady hyena fun fact

other masterlists;;

—main masterlist

—inktober

did i miss any link? please let me know and i’ll add it to the list!

updated;;oct 29, 2024, added a new link!

update nov. 27th, clarified the differences between wingedfolks and featheredfolks better.

explanation: wingedfolks are both winged animals that feeds on meats (bats, vultures, raptors, etc.) and those that can cause a lot of harms (ex. big beaks that can break bones) while featheredfolk are “harmless” in comparison. i sort of imagined there is an ongoing (political) debate on which category big-beaked parrots fall under but ultimately agreed to put them under the wingedfolk due to their capabilities to cause injures and bigger wingspans, which could be a boon to specific careers. ultimately though, parrots and other similar species would probably have their own preferences on which they’d rather be called.

❝ my heart is lost; the beasts have devoured it all.❞

[the-firebird69]

There's a huge huge meeting coming up we have a quick one and we're trying to meet again it's a great idea cuz we don't know where to start and what you were thinking was we don't know where to start we have an immediate emergency we might be able to address that immediately and we actually are and we're going to have a series of meetings. So right now in the Eastern hemisphere is a three are taking a beating they are losing everything there's practically no way to salvage it and they are going away okay these people are nuts and they're insane and they're leaving the basis of Stan Biden and Mac well there mutinous bases they are being destroyed there are five left that are very large half destroyed three are on fire and that's in the eastern hemisphere we announced this morning there are more basis with less damage we anticipate by this evening all of them will be mostly half destroyed at least and we think about four and five will be on fire if not burned out and blown and it's how it's going and then there are eight medium left and four are on fire and will be blown shortly and we expect all those to be out and same with a small and the very small and these two three guys are in pain but they can't do anything about it and then also there are and our son says to Max a while ago you got to meet up with Will and Bill and Ken they're in the miscellaneous group and it's kind of bummed out like a kid out in front of the house waiting for the bus and he said look I'm in the miscellaneous group and I'm huge and he laughed and said okay there's another one then Arnold and Camilla so he's looking at all these people and saying we have to form a group and a half. But those bases will be gone soon by this evening and then they'll start on the Western hemisphere and those bases will be gone what are you seeing in the starkiller episode is them hitting themselves and I wasted effort but they need to leave they're horrific people they can't keep it straight. And it is the three we're talking about and the more like themselves their areas of operation in the eastern hemisphere are half gone from 2 weeks ago but this evening which is only 3 hours away and they'll be 75% gone and most of them will be in the city areas and suburbs and outskirts the rest of their areas that are militarized or will be gone completely and that they're military with bunkers below will be gone completely and percentage of population to be very low and then move on to the Western hemisphere it's going on now this stuff out here in Florida and it is to we have an action plan is to reduce the rings to the west of the prison and it's going on right now and those objects are going to be removed by force and they won't be able to say anything or they'll be obliterated if they're bringing their forces in with spaceships or ships or land they will be obliterated and that's why we agreed on real quick and it worked Billy z is laughing thinking they're going to do something and it is the clones who are attacking the empire and we're going to discuss them next

Thor Freya

Olympus

Zues Hera

[thetalee]

If we start using convicts as guinea pigs, we'll start finding more reasons to convict people. Sure, maybe it'll start as just pedophiles and rapists, but they aren't exactly a large percentage of the inmate population, y'know? So, once people start becoming okay with the idea of some people being exprimented on, they'll widen the net. People convicted of murder, that's okay, too, right? But then they'll need more and more until it's people convicted for, I dunno. Drug charges, crossing the border illegally, having the audacity to be their actual gender, shit like that.

And then they'll start finding any reason to charge and convict people and send them to prison, because prisons are very much for profit, and there's gonna be a lot of money to be made with questionably ethical drug trials.

But oh, I forget that we're still hung up on thinking not everyone deserves dignity as a basic human right.

We could just do this kind of drug research using convicted pedophiles and rapists, and avoid using animals altogether 🤷

Would probably yield better results since we'd have data about humans and not mice and rabbits. But oh, I forget people are still hung up on pretending pedophiles and rapists deserve dignity

you are like 1 step away from being outright fascist, congrats

[glowyjellyfish]

Wouldn’t it be great to stick with one Sims 2 game or idea until I see it through? That would be fun I think.

…anyway, I randomly looked at the Test of Time rules, and my rusty old anthropology minor ass immediately went EARLY SOCIETIES DO NOT WORK LIKE THAT.

I mean, I am not going to complain to the person who made the rules, it’s a fun concept and clearly a fairly popular challenge, and I am sure the rule-maker is a lovely person. But why do you think tribal societies shouldn’t communicate oh my god. Tribal societies are nothing but community. Let your ancient couples talk to other people! That’s how you get chiefs, it’s a guy with the most friends and influence! And omg you can’t go straight from hunter-gatherers to Ancient Rome what. Give them a chiefdom period first!

Anyway, I am pretty sure I had these same thoughts before, several years ago, because I already had a whole bunch of my own rules written out. Many of those rules are bad and need to be changed, and I want to incorporate the full sun&moon collection like I often do. Not that I can play this anytime soon—I would need to set up an Ancient downloads folder and I don’t think I have either the drive space or the wherewithal to start yet again. Ideally, someday I’ll have downloads folders for Ancient & Classical, Medieval & Renaissance, Enlightenment & Regency, Victorian & Edwardian (plus Steampunk and Old West), Vintage (ie roughly 20s-70s, plus a bit of Fallout style), and Modern (roughly 80s-present), and then move any Through Time neighborhoods between downloads folders, but that day is not today.

So the basics of what I want my own, more accurate rules to be would involve:

-Transitioning between eras is dependent on events and thresholds, not time passing (because I prefer proportionate aging but it would take FOREVER)

-Eras will be Hunter/Gatherer, Chiefdom, Classical, Dark Ages, Medieval, Renaissance, Enlightenment, Victorian, Vintage, Modern. Roughly. Might rename them.

-Hunter/Gatherer involves communal living, men going on hunting trips while women gather, and influence gained from relationships and hunting skill. Transitions based on needing agriculture to feed everyone; haven’t figured it out yet

-chiefdom has a ruling family and a few influential roles. The Chief collects extra resources and can use them to build public works. Farming and herding are now common, and sims trade with one another rather than simply sharing. Artisan trades begin. Organized religion begins. Bloodlines are organized into clans, and jostling for a better position is frequent; sims have influence based on their families, but it’s all very fluid at this point. Raids are executed to increase wealth and power. A few careers become available. Transitions based on defense maybe?

-classical starts full-fledged social classes with taxes and everything, and many careers are available (though not for all sims). The ruler is more absolute, and demands military service to fuel campaigns that bring in wealth and slaves. Slavery is a thing, prisoners of war brought home as part of the spoils. Periodically, such as once per season, barbarians try attacking; once you reach a certain threshold of number of slaves and wealth, your decadence is your downfall and the barbarians invade successfully. This wipes out a large percentage of your population and installs CAS Barbarian men in new positions of power; while slaves assisted your downfall and may find themselves better or worse off than before.

-the dark ages is how your society recovers after the Barbarian invasion. You can choose one member of each bloodline to protect, but everyone else had a good chance of dying. If your ruler had a daughter or female relative, the lead Barbarian forcibly married her to lend legitimacy to his takeover, and the new king offers positions of power to his followers and to your citizens that suck up to him. Transitions based on stabilization and the church.

-the medieval era plays very much like a MCC, with the focus on reestablishing the dominance of your society and figuring out your culture in the wake of the invasion. Transitions based on college and the printing press.

-the Renaissance allows more education and opportunities for the creatively talented, and features apprenticeship. It’s also the age of exploration; there will be lots of ship rules in play, and I’ll have a mechanic for discovering the New World. You then add a subhood representing it, with a second Through Time community placed there. You can either start them at the beginning, or roll to start them in any of the previous eras. However, your original society will want to colonize the New World, and transitions when you succeed.

-the Enlightenment involves colonization and overthrowing kings

…and that’s about as far as I got. Some of these sections I have more details for, others are just as vague as this rough outline. You’d think I could just start making the colonial-start through time BACC I came up with a couple months ago, but no.

[fipindustries]

weird worldbuilding experiment

i was imagining this uber rational society, sort of a dath ilan country except not that because that has its own canon but is similar. with no cultural baggage or prejudice and how would they react to trans people. so.

 they observe there is this tiny percentage of the population who like to act and dress and look different from the rest of their group, this is a mere curiosity since it doesnt impact society at large at all. as long as you as an individual are a functioning, productive member of society who is not causing direct harm on anyone else all individual freedoms are fully allowed.

but then they ask to be recognized as a different gender than the one they were assigned by all legal, public and private institutions and citizens, well now thats silly! that word means a very specific thing, were are not going to change the definition. now in private your friends and relatives and your community may call you whatever they want because again, no impact on society, but on a strictly legal sense you will only be recognized as what you were born as. individual institutions are free to decide how to accomodate this, who they accept in their bathrooms, in their sports teams, in their prisons, etc. there will be no goverment enforcement of any kind. some institutions do accomodate trans people, most dont.

now lets say this hyper rational society then observes these people spend a lot of money in hormones and surgery, since this society doesnt recognize this phenomena as a medical necessity it is not covered in its universal free healthcare (which this society would have, being hyperrational and all)

but then this society observes that the suicide trends in this specific group of people tend to be abnormally high, except in those who managed to afford hormones and surgeries. after some deliberations and debate they conclude including those things in the medical healthcare system will reduce deaths and depression in the population so they do so.

after this... would this hyperrational society observe a need to go any further?

would they leave it at that or would they cross the final frontier of legal recognition? would there still be a need for that after everything else? again, while there is discrimination in terms of individuals not recognizing other peoples prefered genders there are no hate crimes, no explicit hatred, noone considers trans people “disgusting” or “dangerous” or off putting or whatever, is just a firm but calm denial at most. this tends to be a lot less pronounced in families, friends and communities that have close ties with trans people since, again, everyone being rational, care about their members in their community and see all they have to do is a minor adjustment of vocabulary and of a couple of traditions to make them not be depressed and even happy so they do so. this is not the case in comunites with less or no trans people since they have no reason or incentive to care (and even in these communities trans people are allowed to dress as they want and act however they want without a social penalty as long as they are functioning productive members of society is just that their identity wont be recognized even colloquially or privately)

[realist-fortheloveofwomen]

Please be so fr rn. Some people are born without legs, I suppose we can’t say humans are bipedal because of this small percentage of the population?

What is your point in this discussion. There is still only male and female body parts, you know there is no third gamete. Sex is a biological reality and so is intersex. Intersex is a biological reality.

The other person likely meant “evolutionarily designed”, like how humans are “evolutionarily designed” to have eyes and ears, but some people can still be born deaf and blind. This definition would mean that for intersex individuals, the person would overwhelmingly have a body designed to support a uterus (female endocrine system, ovaries, female pulmonary system) and then for men, this would mean they would have a body to support a penis (male endocrine system, prostate, etc).

If sex doesn’t matter, how do men know who to catcall? I thought it was this super ambiguous hard to define thing! How do the men know who to oppress in Afghanistan? Why don’t the women just all claim to be intersex?

You know sex is an important category. Arguing over semantics with intersex is pointless. Women are oppressed based on their sex, not a “woman feeling”. Go in a male prison if you think your identity is so much more important than biological reality.

Also- the 30k claim is a bit dodgy. Yes, all of those people are intersex, but for most of them it won’t be as ambiguous as the citations you cited. As I said before, intersex comes in all sorts of variants and majority are still classifiable as male or female. A woman with a large clitoris isn’t a man, a man who skipped male puberty is still a man, a man with a micropenis is still a man, a woman with a scrotum is still a woman; etc. So, true “hermaphroditism” is extremely rare hence the case studies you sent me that are of individual cases, and my point wasn’t “they can’t be born with both genitals” it was that ONLY ONE set of genitals would be able to function at BEST, which funnily enough is what your studies showed.

Humans are sexually dimorphic creatures. Literally open your eyes. Sex is a material reality and SO IS INTERSEX!

Since you keep hammering at our definition - what is your definition of woman? How do you plan to protect women-only spaces, bathrooms, changing rooms, prisons, etc?

It’s genuinely baffling how gendies just make up random scenarios that have never fucking happened once. Like I could bring up statistics and personal experiences that prove trans women retain a male pattern of sexual violence (and violence in general) and they’ll stamp their feet and be like “BUT NOT ALL TRANS WOMEN” . When they can’t even name a single event of a radfem brutalizing trans identified males. Radfems do not wish violence upon trans individuals. We just do not believe in “gender”.

I also think their comment on intersex reveals some insight into the way these people view bodies. Because if you research, intersex women literally cannot have a penis. They can grow something similar to testes, but that’s it. An intersex woman could have an enlarged clitoris that APPEARS like a penis, but would have an entirely different function.

This is the same argument they have for intersex men, who sometimes can have “holes” but they don’t lead anywhere. They don’t have a uterus. This line of thinking “well, it LOOKS like this, therefore, it IS this” is so prevalent in their community. An intersex male has a micropenis and didn’t have normal male puberty? Well, he’s basically a woman!

And they don’t see how misogynistic this is. The equivalent would be noticing a woman who went through anorexia and therefore ‘skipped’ puberty and has a flat chest is now a man.

Lastly even if there was a magical intersex person that had both functioning male and female genitals (never been found, this literally cannot exist in the human body due to conflicting hormone amounts needed for both sets of genitals to function), a male could still not identify as a woman. Because a woman is not an identity. Just like how I can’t “identify” as intersex.

Women with a beard and deep voices and clitorises that appear like penises… are still women! Women who have gone bald are still women. Women who are extremely thin or obese are still women… etc etc

[thessalian]

Thess vs Living With Fascism

Oh gods, I simply cannot at this point.

Okay, so theoretically we have a Human Rights Act. It’s entirely cribbed from the EU’s one, so that we stayed in line with their policies ... but now, guess what? We’re out of the EU. Now, they’ve been agitating in this country for years to bin the Human Rights Act, but so far they haven’t managed it. But now, they’re literally talking about doing it - the bits they haven’t already begun to stealth-violate, anyway. And you know what about? Migrants. Refugees. As in, they’re so keen on their jingoistic, xenophobic, Take Control Of Our Borders shit that their response to 27 refugees dying while trying to cross the English Channel in a small rubber dinghy is not “We should have safer channels for refugees to get here” but “Let’s scrap the Human Rights Act so that rescuing them is a crime and letting them die and throwing them back to their home country - which wants to torture and kill them, by the way - is legal!”

I may have mentioned stealth violations of the existing Human Rights Act. This is in a couple of places at this point - right to protest, and freedom of speech. Currently, the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill is approaching its third reading in the House of Lords, as in, just a couple of steps off Royal assent - which is basically a rubber stamp at this stage. That particular Bill is an odious piece of bullshit that heavily restricts the right to protest, forces trans women into male prisons, and some other weirdly-worded shit that makes me worry in a somewhat more undefined way.

As for freedom of speech? Well, according to a paywalled article in the Telegraph, Johnson is insisting that anyone coming to address the Commons be “specially vetted” and is banning the presence of anyone who is “woke” - or, more specifically and very explicitly stated, anyone who is critical of Johnson and his government. So Commons doesn’t get to hear from anyone who can actually pull receipts on things like his being investigated for financial fiddle-fuckery, his trying to scrap the independent commission that looks into the financial fiddle-fuckery in which the entire Conservative Party seems to be engaged, his failures during the start of the pandemic (which continue through the current issue with the Omicron variant), his lies about Brexit, and everything else. At least not on a professional basis. It’s insane.

I have to live here. This is terrifying in ways I cannot even begin to express. This is what you would have had if Trump had got a second term. This is, in fact, probably worse. It only took two years for the trappings of fascism to cut deep into this country, and there’s another three to go. Yes, Johnson has made an idiot of himself publicly several times the last week, but it looks like he’s starting to get things to the point where that’s not going to matter for long.

Also we’re seeing cases of the Omicron variant over here, and we’ve only just got a mandate for mask-wearing in shops and on public transport starting tomorrow. No social distancing rules, no mask mandate for large group events, and an unfortunate percentage of the population is doing the “No Compliance! We Are Not Sheep!” thing. Their eyes glaze over when we talk about literal restriction of human rights but scream ‘fascist’ at being obliged to wear a piece of cloth over their faces to spare the NHS some agony. We already have the worst infection and death rate in Europe; at this rate, I’m expecting us to end up with another wave, this one potentially deadlier than the last.

So. Yeah. Terrified, thanks.

[salixj]

(December 21, 2020 / JNS) It’s one of the few rap videos around that features a lead singer in frockcoat, tallis and shtreimel—paired with a cascade of gold chains (one bearing a Magen David) and leopard-skin scarf—dancing with guys from the ‘hood facing off against others in Chassidic garb.

As such, “Mothaland Bounce,” where our hero proudly calls himself “Hitler’s worst nightmare,” reveals much about the man behind it and what it means to be a passionate and deeply committed Jew of color.

Because for Nissim Black—successful rapper, father of six and Orthodox Jew—the video makes a strong statement about how Jews of color merge their very disparate identities into a (nearly) seamless whole.

(Fans may want to check out Black’s newest rap video “Hava”—a thoroughly Nissim spin on the traditional “Hava Nagila”—its release timed for the first night of Hanukkah).

Black is perhaps the most famous of today’s Jews of color. (Readers of a certain age will recall when singer Sammy Davis Jr. could claim that honor).

Though the term itself has gained traction in the last decade, there have always been Jews of different races. Scan the globe today, and you’ll find Ethiopian Jews and the African Lemba tribe whose men test positive for the Kohen gene, a marker of the Jewish priests.

What’s more, many Sephardic, Cuban, Mexican and Yemenite Jews consider themselves Jews of color. Not to mention the murky waters surrounding pockets of the Black Hebrews found in Israel (largely in Dimona and Arad in the Negev Desert) and around the Diaspora, many of whom claim descent from the ancient Israelites.

The numbers are equally murky. Estimates range from 6 percent to 12 percent—or even as much as 15 percent—of today’s Jewish population being Jews of color. But there is little in the way of standardized definition of who is a Jew; some studies count all the members of a household as Jewish household when only one member actually is. But when researchers Arnold Dashefsky and Ira M. Sheskin held the disparate estimates of Jews of color up to the light of demographic standards earlier this year, they concluded that the percentage of Jews of color “is almost certainly closer to 6 percent nationally [from the 2013 Pew study] than 12 to 15 percent. And this percentage has not increased significantly since 1990, although it is likely to do so in the future.”

It stands to reason that this year of painful racial tensions across North America could trigger an internal debate in African-American Jews, especially those who came to the faith not through birth or adoption, but who, like Black, embraced Judaism as adults.

And embrace it many of them do—with passion, perseverance and a deep appreciation—often overcoming raised eyebrows, insensitivity and even downright racism in the process. With a surprising number of them finding their spiritual home in Orthodox Judaism.

Nissim Black

Damian Jamohl Black, whom the world knows now as rapper Nissim Black, was born into a family of Seattle drug dealers in 1986. His childhood was pockmarked by FBI raids on his home, his dad was taken away in handcuffs, and he was accustomed to assorted incidents of street violence and crime. By 9, he was smoking marijuana, and plants were growing in his room. By 12, he’d joined the family business.

The only faith Black was exposed to back then was his grandfather’s Islam. His first religious service? A mosque, which he attended until his grandfather went to prison.

But at 13, Black was pulled into Christianity by missionaries. He now says it was the best thing that could have happened to him. “This was the first time I was around people who had normal healthy relationships. No one sold drugs, they had a heart for kids from the inner city, and their summer camp was the most fun I’d had in my life,” he recalls. “Becoming religious saved me from the world of street gangs.”

By high school, he was “the poster child of the missionary center.” That’s when he met the woman who would become his wife. As a Seventh-Day Adventist, Jamie (now Adina) went to church on Saturdays. They wed in 2008 but remarried in an Orthodox ceremony after their conversion five years later.

By 19, Black was making rap music professionally, and his mother died of an overdose. But by 20, Christianity was beginning to feel foreign to him, and he began wondering what the Jews walking in his neighborhood on Saturday mornings were up to. “I went to Rabbi Google and found Chabad.org. And it all began to make sense,” he says. “I told my wife [they were newlyweds] that I didn’t want to celebrate Christmas and Easter anymore. Pretty soon, she was doing her own digging into Judaism.”

The couple’s conversion followed in 2013 and aliyah to Israel three years later. The Blacks now make their home in Ramat Beit Shemesh with their six children, ages 1 to 12. “I wanted my kids to grow up here,” he says, “where they’d see Jews of different shades all praying the same prayers.”

“I’ve checked every box, right?” he says with a laugh. “One rabbi at my yeshivah told me, ‘You have a lot of strikes against you: You’re black, you’re a convert and you’re a Breslov Chassid. And in all these things is your greatness.”

Maayan Zik

Maayan Zik was 13 when her soul woke her up. Growing up in Washington, D.C., with her mom and sister—her parents divorced when she was in first grade, and she didn’t see her dad for another 10 years—she attended Catholic schools and was close with her maternal grandparents, Jamaican immigrants who took her to museums and taught her the value of hard work and education.

Accompanying her Jamaican-born grandmother to church every Sunday, by 13, Zik had “begun to wonder if what my family believes is right for me.” She explored a number of world religions, but when she saw a photo of her light-skinned Jamaican great-grandmother Lilla Abrams, whom family lore says was Jewish, “I realized I had to go way back to find out who I am.”

When she moved to an apartment in 2005 in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, N.Y., she noticed the previous tenant had a left up a poster of a white-bearded man. “I said to myself, ‘I’m going to find out who you are.’ The man turned out to be the Lubavitcher Rebbe. Two years later, after courses and a summer seminary program, she converted. Thirteen years later, now 36, Zik remains there—with her Israeli-born husband and four children. “This somewhat awkward coexistence that lives inside me” fades into the background when she begins to pray, she says. “Having a personal conversation with God as part of the Jewish people, it’s who I’ve always been; I just didn’t know it.”

Mordechai Ben Avraham

Black and Mordechai Ben Avraham are both African-Americans from the West Coast (Seattle and Los Angeles, respectively), and both found Judaism in their 20s. But their early environment could hardly have been more different.

Growing up in an affluent neighborhood with a successful businessman father and a professor mother, “my focus was on how someday I could make more money than my dad.”

Ben Avraham’s spiritual journey took him from Sufism to the Kabbalah until at 22 he experienced Shabbat in a Carlebach-style minyan. “It was like I was floating in outer space. This is what Jews do? This is amazing! The Torah, the prayers, this beautiful spiritual system God gave to the Jews for people to transform themselves—they literally grabbed my heart.” His conversion was complete in 2013 with his move to Israel three years later.

Now 39, the former TV producer is living in the heart of Jerusalem’s religious Mea Shearim neighborhood, working towards his rabbinical degree and publishing a book on the joys of Torah as a black Jew.

But why would anyone who’s already making a huge leap religiously and culturally choose to embrace Orthodoxy with its full menu of mitzvot, accepting the Torah as Divine and committing to living within halachah (Jewish law)?

“If someone is going to make this big of a change completely based on their need to go beyond, there’s a very real tendency to go what many would consider ‘all the way,’ ” says Henry Abramson, dean of Brooklyn’s Touro College and author of The Kabbalah of Forgiveness: The Thirteen Levels of Mercy in Rabbi Moshe Cordovero’s Date Palm of Devorah (2014), among other titles.

A shared history

Much of this tendency to search spiritually can be traced to African-Americans’ religious experience in America, adds Abramson. “Since the 1960s, we’ve seen the phenomenon of questioning the Christianity foisted on their slave ancestors.”

And though Islam has attracted many of these disenfranchised souls—in part, he says, because the black Muslim culture permeated prisons beginning in the 1960s—Judaism offers another option.

Ben Avraham maintains that, in a spiritual sense, Judaism may feel familiar to those raised in the black church. “Like Judaism, gospel Christianity is an intense personal relationship with God without any intermediaries,” he says.

This is a connection Ben Avraham experiences every day of his life. “Living in Mea Shearim, in a fundamental way, I’m around people who are just like me. I just connect with my Chassidic neighbors.”

A growing fissure

But after the 1960s and ’70s, when Jews fought alongside blacks for civil rights in the United States and in South Africa, “there’s been a growing fissure between blacks and Jews,” says Rabbi Maury Kelman who, as director of Route 613, a New York City conversion program, has welcomed many students of different races into his classes.

And, with last summer’s rise in violence between the African-American community and the religious Jewish community, primarily in New York,” says Black, “lately, it’s gotten uglier.”

‘I cried all the way home’

Not everyone in the Jewish community rolls out the proverbial red carpet for someone of color.

After working up the courage to walk into synagogue on Shabbat, Zik couldn’t miss the two women glaring at her, eventually yelling at her to get out and threatening to call the police before giving chase.

“I cried all the way home, but my friends would not let me give up,” she says. “I also knew from everything I’d read about the Rebbe, with his emphasis on love and kindness, that eventually this would be the right place for me.”

“Unfortunately, like in all communities, you’ll find the occasional ignorant Jew or racist,” allows Kelman, who offers programs on the importance of accepting the convert.

A time of racial tensions

With this year’s heated racial debates and demonstrations following the May 25 killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, where does that put Jews of color, with feet in both the African-American and Jewish worlds?

Zik, for one, helped lead a rally in Crown Heights this summer where black neighbors shared their experiences with racism. “It was a reminder,” she says, “that the Torah teaches us to protect the rights of all God’s children.”

And the learning goes both ways, she adds. “When black friends ask me if now that I’m Jewish, do I have money? I tell them about the Jews I know who struggle to pay for rent, food and their kids’ yeshivah tuitions. I tell them that, when I’ve had my babies, neighbors bring us meals and help furnish the nursery. People here always want to do another mitzvah.”

Ben Avraham also says he better appreciates African-American history because he is a Jew. “We can see our own story reflected in the Torah,” he says. “Our two peoples had so many struggles just to survive.”

Adds Black: “Just knowing there are black religious Jews can help the two communities see they aren’t completely separate after all—not to judge each other so quickly.”

Kelman agrees. “Black Jews can be a terrific bridge chiefly because they have credibility on both sides. It’s increasingly important to teach our fellow Jews that we’re a family that comes in different colors, that Judaism is colorblind,” he says. “Once they convert, they’re just as Jewish as any of us—and our diversity only strengthens us.”

‘Something bigger than myself’

By the end of “Mothaland Bounce,” the guys from the ’hood and the Chassids are dancing together with Black as ringmaster.

But it may be “A Million Years” that’s Black’s love letter to Judaism.

In this 2016 music video (with singer Yisroel Laub), Black takes a journey proudly carrying a Torah throughout Israel—archeological digs, mountain caves, a busy shuk (marketplace) and Jerusalem’s Old City—turning heads as he goes. (Don’t miss the moment when Black stops to let some haredi kids lovingly kiss the Torah), finally nestling it inside a synagogue’s ark.

“Since I was a kid, I was looking to be part of something bigger than myself,” says Black. “I prayed and prayed, and finally, I knew who I needed to be, a Jew, and where I needed to be, the Holy Land. It took time but now God’s answered my prayers. And one thing I know is that to God there is no such thing as color. He sees us for who we are inside.”

As he raps:

“I came from a distance Where everything was different … I called out to You And You showed me that You listened … I gave my all to You And You showed me who I am.”

[bond-villains-are-winning]

Did Immigrants steal your jobs beginning in the 1990s?

Or did your State and Local Penal System steal your jobs?

Then used forced, involuntary servitude to do the jobs stolen from you.

“ The largest county prison work camp in Columbus, Georgia, Muscogee County Prison, saves the city around

$17 to US$20 million annually

according to officials, with local entities also benefiting from the monetary funds the program receives from the state of Georgia”

“...saves the City...” = “You ain’t doing it and getting paid part of $17-20 million.”

How many jobs are lost?

Assume a stardard service industry wage of $9.50 plus 50% for employers workers comp, payroll taxes, health insurance = $14.75 x 40 hours x 52 weeks = $29,640 divided into $20 million = 685 jobs in an over 16/under 65 workforce of 102K = 0.7% of potential workers. Assuming everyone was able to work (not disabled, not homemaker, not family caregiver).

Doesnt sound like much. But that’s because we need to think in terms of people looking for jobs.

Impact on the People looking for jobs

When unemployment in the US is 5-10% then 0.7% means 10-20% of the unemployed can’t find work because potential jobs are being performed by prison slave labor.

Except, the prisons slaves aren’t performing trade or skilled or college required work. So the impact is higher on lower income workers.

Probably double. 20-40% of low income jobs “transferred” to slave economy.

Teens entering the workforce, laid off-workers from obsolete industries, part-time workers, etc. can’t find work.

In one small city in one state. Just supplying the services to the municipality.

Small change really. For the big losses we have to look elsewhere.

Not included in the above percentages are the Corporations that regularly “outsource” to prison slave labor. (See below for “wages”)

In a country where the prison population is growing. In a legal system that has for 400 years maintained that prisoners can be forced to work without compensation.

In a country where the criminalization of the conditions of poverty and debt are increasing. Where people find themselves in debt and in poverty because they can’t find jobs.

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Sources for Columbus GA example

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Corporate Slavery:

“It seems that these large corporations are not providing jobs to help educate the inmates, but are taking advantage of this modern-day slavery to have cheap production....”

Whole Foods “... had prisoners working for them in Colorado until it became a major controversy and they ended the program in April 2017. Workers got paid as little as

74 cents a day

and had no human rights, like social insurance or days off.”

“They include: Abbott Laboratories, Autozone, Bank of America, Bayer, Cargill, Caterpillar, Chevron, Costco, John Deere, Eli Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline, International Paper, Johnson & Johnson, Sears, Koch Industries, Mary Kay, Merck, Motorola, Pfizer, ConAgra Foods, Starbucks, United Airlines, UPS, Verizon, Wendy's”.